Chase Bank is Closing Its Crown Heights Branch

JPMorgan Chase Bank and Co. are closing its only branch in Crown Heights, located on Eastern Parkway and Rogers Ave.

“Like any good retailer, we constantly evaluate our branch network to ensure we’re in the right locations as our customers’ needs change,” said Brianna Curran, spokesperson for Chase Bank. “Sometimes we consolidate a branch when another is nearby or traffic is low. This allows us to provide a strong, successful branch network that can serve our community for the long term.”

Chase Bank opened the branch on Eastern Parkway in 2006 and customers are not happy about the closing plan – they will have to travel about 1.4 miles to get to another branch.

“I come here because it’s very convenient for me. It’s near to my residence,” said Kice, 43, who lives two blocks away from the branch. “It’s going to be more inconvenient for me to do a lot more walking. That’s very unfortunate for me.”

Urannie Brown, a 65-year-old woman, has been coming to the Eastern Parkway branch since 2006. “It’s near to me. So when it’s gone, I have to go to the one on Fulton. I am going to miss it because it is very convenient for me,” said Brown, who also lives a couple of blocks away from the bank.

Chase bank told Bklyner they had notified their customers through a letter to let them know their account will be transferred to a nearby branch. The notification usually happens 90 days before a branch closes. Bklyner spoke to about ten customers from the area and not one of them knew the branch would close.

“I had no idea,” said Eric, 36, when Bklyner asked if he knew that the bank would close in August 2021. “This is the closest Chase Bank to me. Otherwise, I would have to go up to Fulton. This is like four blocks from my house. So that’s really inconvenient,” he added.

Since COVID-19 hit, banks nationwide have been shutting down branches in record numbers and moving to online banking.

“I think it’s not very smart to not have a Chase bank over here, cause you have Capital One, you got Chase. Like it just makes sense,” Eric added. “Especially this is just like right off the train, yeah it’s not smart to close this.”

The B49 bus stops right in front of the branch, the two and the five subway trains are across the street from it.

Rose Mesidor, 51, who has been banking with Chase for more than 10 years was worried about the employees losing their job.

“It’s a good bank; they treat people good. I don’t understand why they are going to close the bank. It’s very important for us so, if they close the bank, the people are going to lose their job too,” said Mesidor, who also lives in the area.

Chase Bank’s spokesperson told Bklyner that the Eastern Parkway branch employees will be placed in nearby branches.